We recommend Chuck McGrady over Hawkins in the District 5 race. In the District 2 race we recommend that voters give Charlie Messer a second term and we hope the chance to make good on his plain-spoken promise to stop studying critical projects to death and do something.

This election has differed from 2000 because on the surface Hawkins has tacked toward McGrady's position. Whether that's a lesson learned from the trouncing Hawkins took in the Republican Senate primary two years ago, an election-year conversion or true change of heart is an open question.

With the help of Baldwin and Young, Hawkins has finally managed to enact a countywide strategic plan. But it is not clear whether his re-election would lead to actually putting teeth in the plan, in the form of zoning and other land-use regulations, or simply ratify the Four Corners offense that Hawkins has perfected.

Serious flaws in the county budget have come to light in the weeks since the board enacted it. It freezes county hiring, even though the county Social Services Department is dealing with a crisis in foster care and child abuse cases. As a result of the freeze, DSS director Liston Smith has been forced to gut programs that help welfare recipients find work and get off welfare. The Hawkins-Young brand of fiscal conservatism strikes again.

Jon Yarbrough, a Fletcher lawyer who opposes Messer, is a promising newcomer. He is committed to schools and recreation but offers tepid support for land-use planning. He worries about "mandatory" language in the plan. What is zoning if not mandatory regulation of what property owners may do with their land?

Messer voted with Commissioner Bill Moyer two years ago to move ahead on the land-use plan while the "taxpayer watchdogs" stalled for time and enriched the out-of-town planning consultants.

The news last week from two communities, Flat Rock and Mills River, signaled again that the desire for growth management is the mainstream position.

Mills River's Planning Board has recommended a plan that would restrict commercial development and include a minimum lot requirement for homes of three-quarters of an acre. Flat Rock residents said overwhelmingly in a new survey that they favor the village's current rules, which prevent dense development and limit commercial uses.

As they did in 2000, McGrady's opponents have tried to nationalize the race by tying his Sierra Club service to environmental extremism and anti-Republican electioneering.

We doubt it will work this time, given the breadth of support McGrady has shown across the spectrum in the local GOP. McGrady's supporters have correctly pointed out that Hawkins' allies have found nothing negative to say about his relevant local service on the Flat Rock Village Council, the Henderson County Planning Board and the county Social Services Board.

In fact, we find that service to be the right preparation for the Board of Commissioners at this time. As important, we think that it's time voters repudiated the contentious politics of division that has crippled the board itself and kept our community from pursuing a vision of excellence.

For these reasons, we urge voters to choose McGrady and Messer on Tuesday.